January: Featured Classical Music

Götterdämmerung
OP1396. Live Performance, 28 July, 1955, w.Keilberth Cond. Bayreuth Festival Ensemble; Astrid Varnay, Wolfgang Windgassen, Hermann Uhde, Josef Greindl, Gustav Neidlinger, Maria von Ilosvay, Gré Brouwenstijn, Jutta Vulpius, Elisabeth Schärtel, Maria Graf, Georgine von Milinkovic, Mina Bolotine, etc. (England) 4-Testament Stereo SBT4 1393, from Unpublished Decca recording. Outstanding sound! $79.90.

"….a truly experienced ensemble, each member of which plays to the other….ideal capturing of the Bayreuth acoustics and by the superlative playing of the orchestra, stimulated by Keilberth’s astutely dramatic conducting."

- Alan Blyth, GRAMOPHONE, Jan., 2007

Vanessa (Barber)
OP1345. Live Performance, 16 Aug., 1958, Salzburg, w.Mitropoulos Cond. Vienna Staatsoper Ensemble; Eleanor Steber, Rosalind Elias, Ira Malaniuk, Nicolai Gedda, Giorgio Tozzi, etc.; Interview with Samuel Barber. (Austria) 2-Orfeo C 653 621. $35.90, the Set.

“[Given] the stimulus of an audience…and especially the frisson between Dimitri Mitropoulos and the Vienna Philharmonic players, [this] results in a very exciting performance….Sailing through it all is Eleanor Steber in the title-role, a great singer whose name is now too little known among opera lovers.”

- Patrick O’Connor, GRAMOPHONE, Dec., 2006

P.D.Q. Bach in Houston: We Have a Problem!
DVD0255. Featuring Professor Peter Schickele with OrchestraX conducted by Peter Jacoby. This performance showcases P.D.Q. at the nadir of his creative power, including Schleptet in E-flat, Iphigenia in Brooklyn, ‘Unbegun’ Symphony, Fuga Meshuga, Odden und Enden, The
Seasonings, and the inevitable Schickele play-by-play analysis of Beethoven’s Fifth. Acorn Media 8849. $23.90.

“With Victor Borge, Gerald Hoffnung, and now Anna Russell gone, Peter Schickele seems the sole remaining classical music comic….This is a filmed concert in Houston (hence the title) complete with Professor Schickele’s trademark late entrance sliding down a rope, and his lectures on PDQ’s music between each piece. Like Groucho, he sprays the audience with non-stop jokes.”

- Ray Hassard, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, Jan./Feb., 2007

Historical Reissue Classical CDs Classical Music CDs
Malibran CDs 78rpm Auctions